


To End a War

by OndoriNaramaki



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Last Jedi
Genre: At least mine are, BB-8 doesn't want to be left out, Finn has an army now, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Force Sensitive Finn, Holdo is sneaky, Holdo isn't a jerk, I add tags as i go, I am a little bit evil, I make Star Trek references, I totally know how technology works, Leia doesn't Superman, M/M, Phasma does a thing, Poe doesn't get demoted, Poe doesn't get like everyone killed, Stormtroopers are freakin hilarious, The Porg, What I thought should've happened, and they love him, i think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-03-03 10:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13339239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OndoriNaramaki/pseuds/OndoriNaramaki
Summary: The Last Jedi, if it were written by someone competent.OrIn which Finn goes to take out the tracker right away, 90% of the resistance doesn't die, Poe isn't a sociopath, Holdo doesn't keep secrets for no reason, there isn't a slow-as-tar car chase through space, Rose gets to do stuff, there's no casino planet, and Leia doesn't Superman.You're welcome.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The beginning of the story is basically what I thought was gonna happen in the movie, but didn't. Enjoy!

Finn could see the gears turning in the engineer's head—as she wielded the taser she was probably too fond of using—and decided to explain what he was doing before she drew the wrong conclusion.

"Okay listen, Rosie was it?"

"Just Rose." She corrected, widening her stance.

"Okay listen Rose, I have to get out of here so I can sneak aboard the imperial ship and disable their tracker." He held his breath as she just stared at him for several agonizing seconds before finally speaking again.

"That's a stupid plan, how are you going to even find the device, much less disable it?" Said the engineer as she reluctantly stowed her powerful taser. 

"Well it's not like I have much of a choice. We're sitting ducks at the moment!" Finn enthused, gesturing at the universe at large. "Unless you have a better plan?" He finished, eyebrows raised high.

Instead of answering right away Rose intook her surroundings, appearing to be searching for something when suddenly,  
"Actually I do; wait right there." She said while heading over to a hover crate. Finn could only stare in confusion as she started piling what appeared to be spare parts and scrap into the substantially sized container until it was practically overflowing. She then turned the hover function on and pushed it past him into the pod he was planning on commandeering.  
"I'm coming with you."

"What?! Why?" Finn exclaimed, confused about the turn of events; he had thought he was going to be tased for sure, not have someone offer to help on his most likely doomed to fail plan.

"Like I said, I work on electronics all the time." Rose grunted as she turned off the crate and shoved it as far out of the way on the pod as she could (which was still very much in the way as the pod was only built with one passenger in mind to begin with). "I bet I know way more about them than you do, so you need me to help you locate the tracker and disable it, right?"

...In tacit agreement Finn followed her in and, not wasting a second, pressed the button that closed the door with a whoosh.  
"Okay, but what is all this _literal_ junk for?" He asked, trying to shove the crate more out of the way, to no avail.

"So we can launch it out into space to make it seem like we were blasted to smithereens if we end up getting shot at. Which we almost definitely will." She explained as she began the start-up sequence. 

"Oh. That's, a really good idea." Finn said, impressed. "I guess we just have to buckle in to make sure we don't get jettisoned along with it." He finished, mostly to himself.

"Yup, now here; you take the controls." Rose moved to another panel so Finn could get in position.

"You're not gonna fly?" Finn asked as he scrunched into place in front of the flight controls. 

"No way, I just work on the equipment; I've never actually flown before. Not in the field anyway." She muttered the last part. "Besides, I need to work on locating the tracker, and that might take a little while."

"Okay then," Finn takes in a big breath, holds it for a few seconds, and lets it all out at once. "I hope this works." He says as he clicks the launch button, and they leave the relative safety of the ship.

\--

They hope just one small pod doesn't draw much attention and they won't have too much trouble getting on the imperial ship.

Turns out that was too much to hope for. 

_*BOOM*_

"What the hell was that?!" Finn shouts as some space debris explodes right next to their pod without warning. "I didn't even see anything!"

"I think I might know." Rose plasters her face to the window to get a better look at what's behind them and after a couple seconds lets out a gasp.  
"Yes, I've heard of these! 'Stealth Shots'. They're high tech untraceable rounds that are practically invisible in space." She pulls away from the window, a look of bemusement overtaking her features. "But I thought they were only in the testing phase."

"I guess that makes us the guinea pigs then!" Finn shouts as another thing explodes dangerously close to them. "How do we shake 'em?"

"I don't know; they can't be picked up on radar either. And they're probably done calibrating their shots; we're doomed!" 

Finn yanks the yoke to the side and something blows up in the path of where they just were.

"How did you do that?" Rose asks, looking back at the mess that would've been them had Finn not dodged the blast in the nick of time.

"I, have, no, idea!" Finn squeaks out as he somehow dodges several more deadly blasts, all without warning.  
He didn't know how to explain it. It's like he could just _feel_ it, but that didn't make sense. Anyway there were more pressing matters at hand than figuring out _how_ he was doing it, so instead of thinking more on that he focused on staying alive while his new cohort worked on locating the tracker.

"Well, whatever you're doing, keep doing it! I've got a read on the tracker and we're almost there; it's in section gamma 2 of the ship!" She moves her head to the side so Finn can see the highlighted part of the diagram on the screen.

A thought coming to mind, Finn reaches over and starts typing something into the on board computer before jumping back to the piloting controls. 

He dodges a few more blasts before a sharp turn comes up and he tells Rose to get ready to launch the scrap. "On my signal! Three," 

Rose turns the hover function on.

"Two," 

She latches onto part of the framework of the pod, knuckles white under her gloves with how hard she's gripping it, not wanting to be ejected along with the scrap.

"ONE!" 

Rose opens the door and kicks the cargo out before punching the close button just as an explosion is heard and the scrap flies everywhere.

"Woohoo! That was awesome!!" Finn shouts in glee as he and Rose share a victory high five. "And it actually worked." He says, almost as if in afterthought. 

Rose goes from grinning almost manically to scrunching her face up in confusion at what Finn said, but before she can ask if that meant he thought it _wasn't_ going to work another sound catches her attention. 

" _*Kzzt* Target destroyed, coming back to base *Kzzt*."_

__"What? How did we hear their comms?" Rose asks as Finn continues on their route, having hidden the pod just out of sight so they wouldn't be caught._ _

__"I patched us into them." Finn explains as he carefully maneuvers the craft just along the outside of the imperial vessel. "Turns out they haven't changed the codes since I left. Which is very good. For us, that is. Not for them."_ _

__Rose, figuring now would be a good time to go over their plan -if you could even call it that- asks the important question. "So how are we supposed to get all the way to the tracker without being seen?"_ _

__Finn smiles and turns towards her. "Actually, I was hoping you could help with that." He says somewhat enigmatically._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my first foray into writing for Star Wars, so if anything doesn't make sense, that's probably why. ^-^


	2. Infiltration

Finn and Rose walk briskly down a hall with their caps lowered to conceal their faces as best as possible as they make their way towards where they believe the tracker to be.

Rose had tased a couple imperials guards shortly after they had gotten on board and stolen their attire and accoutrement.  
"How far is it from here?" She asks lowly without turning to look at Finn and risk arising suspicion.

"Not far; we're getting close." He answers back quietly. "Just two more halls and then a left."

They somehow manage to get to the right sector without crossing paths with any imperials. 

Holding their breaths, they round the final corner and come across a suspicious looking panel in the wall. "This is it!" the engineer of the group quietly shouts after prying off the cover and handing if off to Finn. "They wouldn't put this complicated array of wiring in just anything." She looks on in awe. "Wow, braided double helix to prevent entrance via clipping, and a metallic polymer coating to resist electrical-"

"Okay, can we stop admiring what a nice job the space nazis did of guarding their evil tracker and find a way in?" Finn interjects. 

"Oh right! Hmm," she rubs her chin thoughtfully as she contemplates what options they have, if any. Just then an idea comes to mind "Aha!" and she reaches into her pilfered uniform to pull out some kind of pendant on a chain. 

"What is that? Some kind of key?" Finn asks, getting closer to better examine it after checking once more that the coast was still clear.

"Not quite," she says before licking a stripe across the back of the crescent shaped thing, causing Finn to scrunch his eyebrows in confusion, and possibly slight disgust. She then pressed it against something in the box, causing it to spark and the door to open right next to them.

They rush into the opening only to stop cold in their tracks. "Ooh, that's big." Rose says, nonplussed. 

"But can you disable it?"

"Let me see," Rose stows her necklace back under her shirt and moves forward to get a closer look at what they're dealing with. After about a dozen seconds she turns back to Finn. "Give me your gun." Finn hands it over, only to see Rose start to dismantle it. 

"Hey, what are you doing?!" 

"A powerful enough blast should be enough to shut it down, at least temporarily if not permanently."

"Okay, but how is taking apart our blasters gonna help with that?"

"You know how in foam dart guns you can put two springs into one to amplify its power? That's the same basic concept." She says as she starts disassembling her own weapon.

"I have no idea what you're talking about; I've only ever used real guns. But okay, lets do this!" Finn encourages, convinced she knows what she's talking about.

"I'm already doing it." She says as she bites off something from the end of a glowing red vial shaped thing and spits it out before doing the same to a second one.  
"Now you go stand by that terminal and be ready to send out the signal the second I take out the device, because they might have a backup, and if we send it out too soon they'll find out we're up to something, so we have a very small window." She gestures to a screen with a keyboard below it on the wall.

"So we have to make it count, got it." Finn says as he enters the codes that allow him to access the communications functions. "Okay, ready when you are."

Rose slams the cover to the blaster back in place, having made the proper modifications. "Alright, let's hope this works" she says as she locks her arms and aims straight ahead.  
Before pulling the trigger though, she looks back at Finn. "You do know we won't be getting off this ship, right?"

"I knew before I even got in that pod." Finn says resolutely.

That's all Rose needs to hear before turning back, steeling her gaze, and letting off the blast that nearly knocks her off her feet.  
After several seconds the smoke the shot caused clears and she gets closer to see if any lights are still on. "Okay, it's down, send out the signal!"

Finn wastes no time in doing just that.

~•~*~•~

Poe was on his way to the bridge, having just checked in with everyone after their attack on the dreadnaught. He had pulled back—somewhat reluctantly—when Leia had ordered it, knowing that while it was a rare opportunity to take on a dreadnaught it wasn't worth the risk of so many lives being lost if something went wrong. And something he practically couldn't believe happened: the thing blew up on its own! It couldn't be explained, and he didn't need it to be, just glad that that was the case.

He was called to check in with their temporary new in command to be apprised of their plan since General Leia had been injured during an attack on the bridge when a tie fighter had fired a blast at it. Luckily it had just barely grazed it and didn't puncture the hull, but merely knocked around the ones inside. Leia had hit her head and was knocked unconscious, but reportedly it wasn't too serious and they expected her to be up and about at any time. Even with that being the case though they had to put someone else in charge in the meantime. And he heard it was Holdo, which put his mind at ease, knowing what all she had accomplished.

He was almost there when his comm suddenly went off and he heard a familiar and welcome voice, and he answered back. "Finn? What's going on- where are you?"

"Listen, we don't have much time, I'm on the imperial ship and we've just taken out the tracker, so you need to get everyone out of there _now_ before they notice what we've done."

"Wait 'we'? Is someone there with you?" He asked as he entered the bridge, the door closing behind him automatically.

"Poe!" Finn yelled, trying to keep him on track.

"Okay, passing it along to the captain now." He looked up to Holdo and passed on what he'd just been told, then turned his attention back to his wrist mounted communicator and activated the speakerphone function as Holdo started giving orders to others. "I'll come and get you before we take off."

"No, there's no time, you need to get everyone out of there right _now!_ " Finn's words could now be heard by all on the bridge. "Cutting transmission before they intercept."

"What?!" Poe yelled in shock. "No no no no no, there has to be another way, you-" 

"Poe? ...Goodbye." Were the dreaded words Poe heard before the telltale click of a transmission being cut.

"Punch it." He barely registers being said as they take off and enter hyperspace. His limbs suddenly feel numb and his arms fall lax at his sides as a ringing sound overtakes his senses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, got that out quicker than I expected to! 
> 
> Remember, kudos and comments give me life~


	3. Interference

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here ya go. Enjoy!

"I sure hope that worked." Finn breathes out after cutting the transmission. He's just glad he got to talk to his friend one last time. 

When he doesn't hear a response from Rose he looks over at her only to see her staring wide-eyed at something behind him.

"I had a feeling we'd be meeting again, FN21-87." A voice announces. Finn whirls around to see none other than Phasma standing armed with two Storm Troopers flanking her.  
"The General would like to see you."

~•~*~•~ 

Poe doesn't even remember going back to his quarters, but here he sits in a trance-like state, thinking about how his friend had just sacrificed himself to save everyone. How now that he's gone Poe will never get to see him again, or show him all the great things the universe has to offer, or introduce him to holo-vids, or...  
That's right, he never even got to tell him how he f-  
A sudden quiet noise drew his attention away from his thoughts and down to his lap where his old jacket lay, with two small droplets now resting on its surface. He was surprised to see it there as he can't recall having grabbed it. 

Unbidden, he felt his thumb run over the uneven stitches he had sewn himself; it had gotten a bit torn up and scorched when the ex-storm trooper had gone up against Kylo, so Poe had fixed it up best he could while Finn was in surgery so he could give it back to his friend after he was feeling better. But he hadn't gotten the chance to give it back to Finn during all the commotion. 

And now he never would. 

Because Finn was dead. 

He fisted his hands in the jacket and squeezed hard enough to make them shake from the effort, and then suddenly stopped when a thought came to mind: there was no guarantee that Finn was actually dead. Somehow that seemed to shock him out of his melancholy state and he made a decision.

If there was even a 1% chance Finn was still alive he'd have to take it as an absolute certainty.  
Standing up abruptly and wiping his tears he marched out of his room and made his way to the bridge. 

He would get Finn back or die trying.

~•~*~•~

Finn's knees dug into the unforgiving hard tile as he was forced to kneel in front of the General, Hux. Rose was being similarly treated right beside him.

"So these are the rats who single-handedly ruined my genius plan?" Gritted out the man clad in all black with his arms folded behind his back, vibrating slightly, looking as if he were restraining himself. From what though? 

"Affirmative, General." Phasma responded, sounding almost pleased. 

"I see." Was all the man said before taking a quick step forward and suddenly bringing his hand up.

Finn closed his eyes for the backhand he knew he was about to receive, but when several seconds passed by and nothing happened he opened his eyes to the sight of the man in the same position, aside from his free hand struggling to push his arm (which appeared to be frozen in place) forward, to no avail, before seeming to just give up. 

Before Finn could ask what was going on (which was probably a really bad idea anyway) Hux spoke up.  
"Kylo, I see you have deigned to make an appearance." He said without even looking at the dark figure now entering the fray. 

"What are you planning to do with them?" Kylo asks in his low timbre, skipping the pleasantries.

Hux stepped back again and his arm was released from Kylo keeping it in place using the force.  
"Actually, I was going to ask the Captain here what she had in mind since she has more experience dealing with garbage like this." he says while staring down his nose at Finn. 

"I was thinking an M-77 might be appropriate." The chrome armored storm trooper says, causing Finn's eyes to widen and Rose to wonder what that meant.

"I would advise against that; they could be useful to us." Kylo stated as he made his way closer. "But not if they're dead." He finished as he closed the distance. "Plus it's messy." He added, almost as if in afterthought.

Hux turned to the other man and straightened his back to give himself as much height as possible. "You don't make the decisions around here, and need I remind you that Supreme Leader Snoke has put _me_ in charge in light of your recent failures?"

Kylo's expression darkened and he clenched his hands into fists at his sides. After a couple seconds his breathing got heavier and his fists began to shake, and just as Finn was starting to think that Kylo would lash out the man made an almost pouty face before turning on his heel and storming off.

Hux followed his retreating form with his eyes until he was sure Kylo was out of earshot.  
"He does have a point, though. Loathe as I am to admit it." He mumbled the last part, then turned to face Phasma and the recently captured rebels. "Toss them in the brig!"

~•~*~•~ 

"We have to go save him!" Are Poe's first words after running into the conference room.

Holdo takes one look at him before she makes a gesture and everybody else files out of the room.  
"We can't." Are the dreaded words that escape her lips as she turns to face the orange clad pilot. 

"Can't, or won't?" Poe challenges.

"It's a suicide mission!" She nearly yells, then tilts her head slightly to the side. "And how do you know he isn't already dead?"

Poe's eyes widen at both the bluntness he hadn't been expecting and the reminder that it was indeed a possibility that Finn was... but no. "...I don't," he says, eyes on the floor before looking back up with renewed resolve. "But I do have hope."

Holdo just stared back at him for a few seconds before turning her attention to something at around Poe's knee level, then deflating slightly. After a few more seconds of heavy silence she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion.

"...I'm sorry Commander, but _I_ can't help you." 

Poe was about to argue back when he noticed the I in that sentence had been slightly emphasized, and he held back in confusion.

"I cannot sanction such a mission; the board would view it as lunacy." Holdo said as she walked toward the hologram displays. "But if someone were to go off on their own I couldn't be held responsible for that, now could I?" She mused as she leant against the main console in the center of the room.

Poe just stared back at her and allowed his hopes to get up, pretty sure he knew where this conversation was going.

The purple-haired admiral grabbed a tablet and started to fiddle with it as she continued. "Anyway, we're almost docked and don't have any missions scheduled for a while yet, so if I don't see you in the next few days I won't think anything of it."

Poe started to smile, now certain she was allowing him to go save his friend.

"I probably also won't notice if a fighter jet goes missing; sometimes things just get logged incorrectly." She says and looks up at him. "You may be excused."

"Yes sir!" Poe salutes, then relaxes and says with as much feeling as he can muster "Thank you." while looking at the admiral gratefully.

"For what?" She looks at him with feigned confusion.

Poe just smiles and starts to leave, but right before he makes it to the door he hears Holdo call his name and he looks back at her. "Yes?"

"Make sure to take good care of that."

At Poe's bemused expression she nods at his hand and he looks down, surprised to see Finn's jacket being held by him in a tight grip. He hadn't even realized he'd been carrying it. He looks back up to see her smiling knowingly at him and after blushing for a half second at how obvious he was he steels his expression and responds "I will." Before heading to his room as quickly as safety would allow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone catch the Batman v Superman reference I threw in there? 
> 
> And remember, comments and kudos give me life~


	4. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Rose attempt to get out of jail free, and Poe starts on his plan to go save Finn.  
> ...And whoever's with him I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you may have noticed I changed the summary. Don't worry if you didn't; I only changed it a smidge.

"So, what's an M-...?" Rose asked from within the cell our intrepid heroes had been tossed into not five minutes ago.

"'M-77'." Finn supplied. "It's decapitation via electric saw." He finished morosely from his slumped position against the far wall. 

A stunned expression overtook the engineer's features for a few seconds before it gave way to a grimace. "...That's disgusting." Then, after getting over that train of thought, she moved onto her next question. "Well, what are they going to do with us instead?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it might actually be worse."

Just before Rose could ask him to explain what "worse" could _possibly_ entail, they hear approaching footsteps in the hall which suddenly come to a halt. 

They turn to look out through the bars of their cage and spot a couple Storm Troopers several feet off harshly whispering at each other and glancing over at them intermittently, until one of them turns toward the cell and speaks up. "Excuse me?" He says, and then realizes what he just did, and changes tactics. "Uh, I mean, hey you!" He amends while pointing an outstretched finger in Finn's direction. 

"Uh, yes?" Finn asks, somewhat perplexed at their behavior.

"Are you FN-2187?" He asks while taking a small step forward, his partner following along.

"I was." Finn offers succinctly while Rose silently observes the conversation with a single slightly raised eyebrow, arms folded across her chest.

The Troopers lean close to each other and start whispering again. "Are you the one who disabled the tracker?" The other one now speaks up. 

"If you mean am I the one who blew it up? No, that was her." Finn aims a thumb in Rose's direction, and she nods at them and lifts a hand from where it rests against her other arm as if in confirmation. "But I did help." He finishes. 

"Why did you do that?" The first Trooper asks as he takes a couple slow steps forward, seemingly subconsciously. 

"Why do you want to know?" Finn asks as he takes a couple steps of his own, approaching the bars separating them from the outside. 

"Just answer the question." The other one speaks up again, adjusting the blaster in her arms.

"Because I didn't want all my friends to die." Finn grits out, hands now on the cage bars with his face nearly pressed up against the cold metal. 

"Why did you turn your back on the First Order?" The first one asks, now close enough that Finn had to tilt his head up to look at him.

"Because I didn't want to kill innocent people. And that's what they had been ordering me—and everyone else—to do." Finn stared them directly in the eyes, knowing where to look even with the mask there because he himself had been living behind one for so long. 

The Trooper couldn't help but just stare back into Finn's steely gaze, and then eventually speak up. "Hey, you know what?" He says, looking to the other Trooper. "I think I dropped my keycard somewhere." He then takes something out of a compartment in his armor and drops it within reach of the cell.

"That stinks." The other one says back after a few second pause. "Must've dropped it during training."

"Yeah, anyway better get back to it."

The other one nods and, unceremoniously, they continue down the hall as if they hadn't even stopped in the first place. Or committed treason.

"That... was weird." Rose says after about a minute of silence.

"I'll say." Finn responds as he crouches down and reaches out to grab the keycard. "But at least we have a way out of this cell now!" He finishes as he stands back up and holds it out in front of him like a trophy. "Now we just need a plan."

 

~•~*~•~ 

Poe opens the door to his quarters and marches straight to his bag to fill it with supplies, no particular plan in mind, but as soon as he grabs it something tumbles out. He recognizes it as the binary tracker that leads to Rey. Or, which currently leads Rey to it. Finn must've left it here for him before he left to disable the tracker on the First Order ship. The reminder gives him pause for a few seconds, but then, making a decision, he picks it up and switches it to tracking hers instead of the other way around. Because that was how technology worked. 

He finished packing and headed to the hangar to hop aboard the nearest X-Wing, a clear destination in mind. 

He was going to ask Rey for help getting their friend back.

He hops aboard, but just before shutting the hatch he hears some familiar beeping and turns around to see none other than BB-8 in the droid pit of the X-Wing. He smiles and replies "Of course not, buddy; I wouldn't dream of leaving you behind." Even though he totally forgot about him in his haste. 

He then dons his helmet and hears the low timbre of his droid calling him out on his BS. "Yeah, I'm going to work on that, sorry." He says, having the decency to at least look a little ashamed, before shutting the hatch and beginning the start-up sequence. 

The orange and white droid lets out some inquisitive beeps and Poe says through the comms "I'll fill you in on the way." Just before they take off. 

~•~*~•~ 

"Okay, so we should split up to look for a ship we can use, and then meet back up in 600 quatloos."

"What?" Rose asks, pretty sure she heard that wrong.

"Oh shoot, I mean half an hour. Sorry; Storm Trooper code." Finn grimaces. "So anyway, that sound good?" 

"Yup," Rose replies, swiping the keycard through the reader on the outside of the cell, causing the door to open with a woosh. "Now which way do we go?" She asks after she exits the confined space and looks around. 

Finn follows her out and takes a look around for himself. "Uh, you take right I take left?"

She turns to look at him, eyes wide in surprise "Wait, you don't know where they keep their transport?" 

"Well I haven't actually been on this particular ship before, so let's just make the best of this, okay?" Finn asks, wishing for this day to be over already.

"Okay then, see you in 600 quatloos!" The engineer stage whispers as she runs off in her designated direction.

"She's not gonna let that one go, is she?" Finn mutters to himself as he makes his way through uncharted territory. 

He probably should've been more careful navigating said uncharted territory though, because it's as he rounds a corner that he bumps into a Storm Trooper. Literally. And it's not the same one that gave him the keycard, that much he can tell due to the slight height discrepancy.  
He backs up a few feet and the Trooper eyes him for a couple seconds before pulling out their blaster and aiming it at him. "Traitor!" They shout, taking a step forward. 

Finn freezes, not having anything to protect himself with, nor a way out.

This was it.

Except it wasn't, because suddenly Finn hears what sounds like _giggling_ coming from the Trooper in front of him, who then says "I'm just messing with you." and removes their helmet, revealing a shock of red hair, and blue eyes on fair skin. 

"Nines?!" Finn shouts, unable to stop himself.

"87! I can't believe you're alive! Captain Phasma told us you were dead..." and he kinda just stares at Finn for a couple seconds. "Well anyway, what are you doing?"

"It's actually 'Finn' now, and I'm kinda just trying to get the hell out of here, honestly."

"Well I can help you with that. Follow me!" And he turns around to lead Finn somewhere.

"What, why?" Finn says, jogging to catch up to his old teammate. "Not that I don't appreciate the offer!" He quickly adds. "But aren't you loyal to the First Order?"

"No way man, everyone here's a dickhed; I'm loyal to _you_." He says, looking over at Finn, who feels kinda touched by that. 

Then he's being led though a set of doors. 

A set of doors behind which lay a mess hall chock full of Storm Troopers, who have all dropped what they were doing and started staring directly at the newcomer.  
All air escapes his lungs and he feels an arm snake it's way around his shoulders just before he hears the dreaded words "This is where you belong, Finn."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone know the significance of M-77? Or catch my Star Trek reference?  
> Let me know in the comments!


	5. Recruitment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose finds something interesting, Leia comes back to the land of the living, and we get to see how the recruitment stage of Poe's rescue mission goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos and comments you have been leaving! It makes me really happy to see that people besides me like what I write.
> 
> Now without further ado, enjoy!

Rose quickly makes her way down a suspicious looking hall and comes upon an even more suspicious looking door with an electronic lock on it, but before she can even get a good look at it she hears approaching footsteps. Jumping to the side, she hides in the alcove just out of sight for the moment, but there isn't anywhere to go as the hallway she came down is the only way in or out, aside from that mysterious door.

The dreaded sound of footfalls gets louder and louder until it... stops. And then starts up again, but gets quieter and quieter this time. Rose chances a look down the hall to see a guard just walking away. Wiping pretend sweat from her forehead, she lets out a near silent sigh of relief, glad she caught a break with that one. "Must've forgotten something." She mumbles, figuring that's why they left without even making it to the door.  
Speaking of which, 

she practically launches herself back at it so she can examine the lock, which she easily figures out how to override.

Getting past the door's security and, checking behind her one last time, she slips inside. What she sees makes her eyes go wide. It isn't transport, but something that might be equally—if not more—useful.

~•~*~•~ 

Leia awakens to a slightly aching head, but otherwise feeling no worse for wear. Luckily the gods show her mercy and the light that assaults her eyes once she opens them isn't at retina-searing level. She then goes to rub at her seeing orifices, but her hand is intercepted before it can reach them. 

"Hey," She hears and looks over to see one purple-haired, currently-admiral smiling at her, which brings a smile to her own face as she echoes the greeting back.

"I heard you'd be waking up soon. How are you feeling?" Holdo asks as she rubs soothing circles in the hand she's holding between both of her own.

"Better than I should be." The General responds as she sighs in contentment.

"What do you mean?" Holdo queries, confused.

Leia takes a deep breath before slowly letting it out and sitting up. "It's the strangest thing, that shot was coming right for us; it should have blown up the whole bridge, but it veered off at the last second. I can't explain it."

They fall silent for a moment, a contemplative look overtaking their features, until Holdo speaks again. "Well I'm just glad you're okay." and reaches out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind Leia's ear, who smiles at her purple-haired friend once again and nods in agreement.

"You feeling up to taking over again yet?" Holdo asks as she leans back in her seat. 

"You bet; someone would have to blast me into space to keep me from it for long." Leia chuckles, then quickly sobers as a thought comes to mind. "Speaking of which, what happened while I was out? We don't seem to still be in imminent danger, so that's a good sign."

Holdo takes pause and looks down sadly, remembering the events that had transpired. "About that. I have good news, and bad news."

 

~•~*~•~ 

 

Rey sat in half lotus position, meditating just like Master Luke had instructed her to do, in an attempt to clear her mind after hearing the news he had given her. 

Turns out she had actually trained under his tutelage before. When she asked him who her parents were he told her he didn't know; she had been dropped off at his school of sorts when she was just barely old enough to walk without falling over, but somehow clinging onto an accent she still used to this day. 

Then she recalled his next words.

_"You were so powerful with the force at such a young age it was hard to believe. Such raw power, I took it as my duty to help you learn to control and channel it properly. You had quite the affinity for both mind tricks, and sparring. Caused a lot of trouble in your own right." He had chuckled, then suddenly became serious, a haunted look appearing in his eyes._

_"Then one day the temple was attacked and destroyed, and you were one of the only Jedi to survive when Kylo and a few other of my students were taken." He took a slightly shaky breath and released it slowly._

_"After that, I wasn't in a mind to be taking care of anyone, so I dropped you off at the nearest safe place I knew. Being left alone after such a traumatic event must've caused you to block what happened from your mind.  
I truly am sorry for leaving you alone all these years"._

She's suddenly brought out of her thoughts by the feeling of someone approaching, followed soon after by shouting.

"Rey, you gotta help me!"  
She knew who that voice belonged to immediately, having met the pilot at a celebration after Star Killer Base was destroyed, and having recognized him easily enough from the few times Finn had described him to her during their time together (short as that may have been).

"Poe? What is it?" She asked as she unfolded from her meditative position, wondering what could have possibly happened to cause him to come all the way out here.

Poe—having had to run around a lot of the island and up the small hill Rey was on to find her—bent almost in half, bracing his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "It's Finn!" He managed to get out after a couple seconds. 

Suddenly alert, Rey practically jumped to her feet. "What? What about Finn?" She asked, worried something might've happened to her friend, as that tone did not bode well.

"They have him. The First Order." Poe said, face pained.

Ice ran through the Jedi's veins at those words, and all she could bring herself to respond with was "How?" Said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Poe looked down, swallowing a lump in his throat. "He sacrificed himself to save everyone."

Rey just stared for a few seconds, taking that information in, before nodding to herself, knowing that sounded like something Finn would do.  
"Well," She said, making a decision. "we best not waste any time getting him back then." She finished as she bent down to pick up her staff. 

Poe's head jerked up at that and he searched her gaze for a few seconds, before seeming to find what he was looking for, and then he smiled, glad that Rey was as willing as he was to jump into certain doom to go save their friend. 

Just then the smell of fish assaulted his senses and he turned to see an old man carrying several big ones by their tails, funny little penguin seal things—just like the many Poe had run past on his way here—balancing on his shoulders and head, flapping their wings and making funny little chirping noises occasionally.

"Uh, who is...?" Poe asked, gesturing at the odd stranger.

"Oh right, that's Master Luke. I found him, and he's agreed to train me." Rey said as she strapped her staff to her back.

Poe realizes he should have known who that was considering that the whole reason Rey came to this place was to find Luke, but he had forgotten about all that due to extenuating circumstances. "Hi, I'm Poe." He said in lieu of anything more profound. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Luke."

"I know... she just said that."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I-"

"Anyway," Rey cut in, figuring they should get the show on the road sooner rather than later. "we best be off. Right?" She finished, turning to Poe.

"Yes, good idea." Poe replied, glad for her interruption, before turning around and heading back to the ship.

"See you Later!" Rey shouted over her shoulder to Luke as she followed.

"Wait what? Where are you guys going?" Luke jogged to catch up, a porg falling off of him from the sudden movement.

"To save our friend." The two said simultaneously without slowing their quick pace, not wanting to waste any more time than they already had.

"From what?"

"The Resistance was being attacked by the First Order, and he saved everyone's lives, but got captured in the process." Poe answered this time.

That brought about a contemplative look on the old Jedi's face, until he shook it off a few seconds later—seeming to come to some kind of decision—and marched past them. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go save him!"

"Wait, you're coming with us?" Rey asked, figuring he wouldn't be so easy to convince to leave the island since he kind of came here to get away from everything in the first place, and it had basically been his home for well over a decade.

"Of course! If the First Order— which I'm assuming is basically The Empire—has him, you could probably use my help. Besides, I'm sick of this place." 

Poe looks over to Rey who just shrugs at him. "Well, glad to have you on board! Looks like this mission is already turning out better than expected."

They make it back to the beach area where the two ships are in record time, Poe calling BB-8 over from where he was entertaining a small flock of the weird little bird creatures.

Luke is about to follow when he notices something. "What am I doing still holding these?" He says before unceremoniously dropping the fish on the ground, not wanting to deal with preparing them to be eaten on the trip, and then in a flutter of feathers and flapping wings a ton of porg (including the ones who were riding on his shoulders and head) immediately descend on, and start tearing into them. "Man, you guys are _animals_." He says, almost in wonder. 

He then heads over to the open back hatch of the Millennium Falcon. "C'mon Chewie, let's go!" He says to his friend before hopping aboard.

Chewbacca makes a sound of frustration at having to leave just before getting his fire going, and throws his rock and flint onto the ground. He then snatches a fish from the pile (having to fight a couple porg off it) and brings it with him.

Luke and Rey load the X-Wing into the Falcon together, using the force, and then they are off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No actual Finn in this chapter, but there will be plenty of him in the next one to make up for that! 
> 
> And remember, comments and kudos give me life and encourage me to write faster~!


	6. Revolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally find out what Nines has planned for Finn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case some of you don't know, Nines (FN-2199) is a character who was one of Finn's teammates when he was training as a Stormtrooper under Captain Phasma, along with Zeroes (FN-2000) and Slip (FN-2003). #NotOCs lol.

Finn shoves Nines into a supply closet, closes the door behind them and slams him up against the far wall, pressing him into it. "You're seriously pulling _this_? Turning on me after just talking about how _loyal_ to me you were and everything?!" Finn whisper-yells at his traitorous (or rather, _not_ traitorous, which was kinda the problem here) friend.

"What?" Nines looks at the closed door, behind which lay a throng of Stormtroopers, who he just now realizes are kind of Finn's current enemy and outnumber him about a thousand to one. "Oh, I can see how it totally looks like that, but no; let me explain." He wheezes out.

Finn eyes him suspiciously, wondering how he could _possibly_ make this look good, but lets him go and steps back, arms crossed. "I'm listening."

Nines coughs at the sudden release of pressure restricting his airway before continuing. "Okay so, the First Order isn't a good place for anyone. I know that now, and you're living proof that there's another way, because you successfully got out. And if there's anyone qualified to convince others to do the same, it would be you, Finn." He says, a look of conviction in his eyes.

Finn is at a loss for words at this revelation—which actually did kind of explain Nines actions away—but what in the world did he expect Finn to do?

Nines takes the silence as his cue to continue. "That's why I brought you here; you can rally the troops and get them to join your cause. Get them _out_ of this hellhole."

That statement is enough to shock Finn out of his momentary silence. "And how exactly am I supposed to do that? Just go out there and say 'Hey guys? Wanna leave the place that has been your home for probably your whole lives and join me, current First Order enemy numero uno, on a quest to fight against your own commanders, which will probably get us all killed anyway?'"

"Yes." Is all Nines offers in response. At Finn's incredulous expression he continues "Of course I don't mean in those exact words, but yes that is the basic concept. Now, what do ya say?" 

Finn gets a constipated looking expression, as if contemplating the idea, but still believing his friend to be nuts.

"You can do this, Finn; I know you can. After all, you got me on board and you haven't even asked me yet." Nines said, raising his eyebrows a bit and smirking slightly. 

Well, with a glowing review like that, "Okay fine!" Finn finally breaks. "I'll try. But if I get killed it's _your_ fault." He points a finger at his friend for emphasis. "And I _will_ haunt your prostate." He adds for good measure. 

Nines smiles in response. "Yeah, that's the you I know and love. But not in a weird way. Now go out there and do the thing." He says as if it weren't a big deal, even making a shooing motion with his hands.

Finn rolls his eyes at his friend's antics, but knowing he's right—and believing he might actually be able to pull this off—he turns around to step back out into possibly life-threatening danger to address the masses... who are still staring at him, no longer bothering with their food.

...

Since no one suddenly decides to open fire on him Finn takes a deep inhale and goes for it. "Hi." He says in lieu of anything more profound. "I bet you're all wondering why I brought you here today."

He is met with dead silence, and looks back over at Nines, who encouragingly gestures at him to keep going.

Finn returns his gaze to the crowd in front of him and clears his throat nervously. "Okay, who here knows who I am?"

A slightly vibrating hand toward the back of the room is raised, and Finn is pretty sure he recognizes the one belonging to that arm as the guard who dropped him the keycard. 

"FN-2187."  
A chorus of quiet gasps and some murmuring is heard in response.

"That's right." Finn states, remembering the hundreds, _thousands_ of times he had been addressed as such, which only serves to bolster his resolve. "That's who I _was_. But I have a _name_ now, and it's Finn. I got it after I defected, and do you know why I did that?" He lets the question hang for a second, allowing the suspense to build.

"Because I was ordered to hurt people, _kill_ people. _Innocent_ people who had done nothing wrong. And I couldn't do that. So I got out. And I met someone." He pauses, remembering the first time he saw the orange-clad pilot. "I met a lot of people, a lot of _good_ people. And working with them has been the most rewarding thing in my entire _life_ , and even if I've only been with them for a short time I know it's where I belong." He looks down momentarily, now recalling all the new _faces_ he fought alongside—how they changed his life for the better, and how he needs to get back to them—which gives him a new and sudden surge of energy and he looks up with renewed vigor and a fire in his eyes.

"I don't want to be a number in the system, I want to be my own person and make my own decisions. I want to fight for what's _right_ , not slaughter innocents at the whim of a callous commander. I don't want to be just a cog in the machine, and I doubt any single one of you do either. Now who wants to help me break the machine?!"

After a couple second pause about half the occupants of the room stand in affirmation and shout "Yes!" simultaneously.

Encouraged, Finn continues. "Who wants to join me in the fight for what's _right_?!" He turns a hand into a fist for emphasis. 

Suddenly the entirety of the room standing and shouting "YES!"

"Then let's get the hell OUT OF HERE!!" Finn shouts back, throwing his fist up in the air.

An almost deafening chorus of cheers is heard in response and Finn can't stop the huge grin that threatens to split his face before he turns to Nines, the words "Look how awesome I am!" dying on his tongue as he sees Nines put a finger in front of clenched teeth in a 'shoosh'ing motion while wide-eyeing the entrances to the room.

Finn's own eyes widen as he realizes all the noise from the cheering might give them away, and quickly spins back around. "Okay, but keep it quiet or someone might hear!" He gestures emphatically with both his arms and everyone instantly falls silent. 

Nines lets out a low whistle at that. "Well _you_ sure have a commanding presence."

Finn ignores his friend in favor of addressing his new army. "Okay, but just to be clear we're not going to be doing any fighting today if we can help it."  
About half the 'Troopers sigh at that; some in relief and others in disappointment. Finn continues, unperturbed. "The reason for that being that Snoke exists, and he's here, and going up against him now would get us all killed for sure. 'Run away to fight another day' and all..." Finn's pretty sure he just made up that saying. "anyway we don't want to be fighting _any_ powerful people on their home turf."

If any 'Troopers have any objections to such a thing they keep it to themselves, and Finn decides it's time to lay out a plan. "Okay, time to lay out the plan. We need to secure a ship—a large one, big enough to hold every Stormtrooper in this place—so who here is good with ships?" More hands than he was expecting shoot towards the sky. "Uh... okay, everyone on _this_ side," he leans over to gesture to one small section to his left. "please go work on that, and everyone _else_?" He turns back to face the rest of the crowd while the small group goes off to do as directed. "Just go about your regular day so no one suspects anything. When the time comes I will give Nines the signal and he'll pass it on to all of you to move to the hangar bay." 

Finn is about to turn around to discuss the next step with Nines when he notices that all the Stormtroopers are still staring at him, as if waiting for something, and after a couple awkward seconds he realizes what. "Okay, done. Wait, uh, dismissed? Yeah, dismissed!" And thankfully after that the 'Troopers go back to what they were doing, plenty of them heading off back to their regular stations, having finished with their meals. 

"Whew, that's harder than it looks." Finn huffs while over dramatically slumping against his friend. 

"Really? Could've fooled me." Nines smirks, but then continues before Finn can swat him over the head for that comment. "So what's the next step?"

Finn squints at him but decides to let it go in favor of advancing the plot. "Well, I came here with a friend. We split up to look for transport, and I'm supposed to meet up with her in section Beta 1 in just about 300 quatloo- wait, you still use those right?"

"We are never changing that, _ever_ , okay?" Is Nines' emphatic response. "Slip loves those holos way too much." He mumbles in way of explanation.

"What was that?" Finn asks, unable to make out the other's words.

Nines' eyes widen almost comically. "Uh, nothing. Anyway yeah, I can get you over there, but we need to make a stop first. And even before _that_ , we gotta get you changed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, I love Finn and Nines so much, and their dialogue is incredibly fun to write! XD


	7. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally get to see who these mysterious people Finn needs to collect before meeting up with his cohort are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, some fun stuff happens in the chap~  
> And it's actually the longest one so far!

"So what exactly is this 'first stop' anyway?" Finn—now all decked out in standard Storm Trooper armor—asks as he's led down a hallway. Nines had suggested the change of clothes so if they were seen Finn wouldn't be recognized, and he also gave him a comm unit to make things easier. 

"There are a couple people we need to grab before meeting up with your friend." Nines supplies over his shoulder.

"Okay, but who are they?"

"One of them is Zeroes." 

"What?" Finn stops in his tracks; he had been so caught up in everything going on that he hadn't thought to ask about that member of their quad, and definitely not about the final one, because he already knew what happened to him; died right in front of his eyes, smearing his own blood over Finn's visor and helmet during that fateful assault on Tuanul. Which was actually the catalyst that got him to leave the First Order, so you could say that it was thanks to Slip's sacrifice that any of this was able to happen.

Finn shakes himself out of his reverie and jogs to catch up to his friend. "Okay, so Zeroes is alive, that's good. Now who is the other person we need to grab?"

"Eh, I'll introduce you when we get there." Is all Nines offers in way of explanation.

"Okay, can you at least tell me where they are?" Finn asks, wondering how long it would take to get all this done, wanting to get to the meet-up place on time, but also trying to mask his impatience.

"Not far; we just need to get to the end of the hall where Zeroes is, then make a left, go inside the door and we're there. Don't worry; shouldn't take long, we'll get to your friend with time to spare." He finished, as if reading Finn's mind.

They round a corner and come upon a 'Trooper pacing back and forth with their weapon at the ready. "That's her." Nines says to Finn, causing Zeroes to turn on her heel to face the direction from which the words emanated.

"Who's that?" She questions while pointing at Finn, seeming to have somehow recognized Nines even though the red-head had his helmet on.

Finn removes his own helmet in response and the Trooper across from him just stares for a few seconds before aiming her weapon directly at Finn and shouting "Traitor!"

Finn rolls his eyes as he moves to go past his old teammate. "Yeah, I know you're faking, come on let's go." He throws over his shoulder as he quickly makes his way to his next destination. 

Zeroes can't help but stare in shock, wondering how the heck Finn could _possibly_ have known that. The words "Yeah, I already used that on him." coming from Nines as he too passes her up explains it though.

"What?" Zeroes removes her helmet in frustration, revealing dark skin and short cropped black hair, similar in appearance to Finn, but several years older. "No fair!" She shouts in indignation at the situation, eliciting a smirk from her compatriot (one which she can't see, but _knows_ is there).  
Feeling like she should get on with life though, she then moves to catch up with Nines. "So, what exactly is going on anyway?"

"We're starting a revolution." The redhead replies offhandedly.

"Okay cool; that's basically what I figured." Zeroes falls into step beside her friend, glad to have her theory confirmed, but then a thought comes to mind. "Wait, does he know?" She asks, casting a serious look to her side.

Nines meets her gaze through his own helmet. "No, but he's about to find out."

~•~*~•~ 

"Where the hell- I thought I was supposed to take a left. Maybe the stupid directory is in code." Rose scratches her First Order hat adorned head—having knocked out another guard, but this time with their own taser (which she was happy to keep as a souvenir)—as she tries to make her way through the labyrinthine ship. Just then she gasps, an idea having formed. "That's it; it _is_ in code!"  
With that in mind, she tries to figure out the most likely turn to make next.

~•~*~•~ 

Finn, well on his way to the room, quickens his pace further as he nears, having a feeling that something interesting was about to happen.  
Now standing in front of the double doors he takes a deep breath before pushing them open to reveal a room filled with what looks to be physical therapy equipment, and the instant his eyes lock onto the room's only other current occupant he lets out a gasp and removes his helmet "Slip?!" 

The man in question looks up from his stretches and says "87?" Almost non-believingly. 

"...YOU'RE ALIVE?! They shout in unison.

"Wait!" Two people skid to a stop just inside the entrance to the room. "Aww man, we missed it." Says a hangdog Zeroes, slumping against the threshold in defeat.

Nines lets his helmet slip from his grasp and tumble a few feet away in disappointment, having removed it on the way so he could have an unobstructed view of the meeting/reveal.

"How come no one is wearing their helmet? Is there a thing going on?" Asks a thoroughly confused Slip, standing with some trouble. 

"There is now!" Nines and Zeroes raise their hands above their heads and shout just out of sync with each other, seeming to have gotten over their recent melancholy state.

"Huh?" That did not help explain at all.

Finn slaps a hand to his face and decides it's up to him to keep things rolling. "Alright, long story short: I convinced all the Stormtroopers to join me and leave this place, now we need to meet up with the person who came along with me, and we're kind of in a hurry. You in?"

Slips' eyes glaze over at all the new information his painkiller fogged mind has to deal with and, not being able to quite process it correctly in such a short timeframe, goes with his gut. "Okay, I don't really know how to feel about this, but I might as well go along with it." He shrugs as he efficiently straps his armor on over his undersuit and eyes his crutches.

"Okay great!" Finn takes what he can get. "Can you walk?" He asks, noticing where his friend's attention was directed.

"Yes, just not quickly; I'm still recovering from that shot I took to my midriff back on Tuanul. I think they had to replace some of my spine, but I'm not quite sure; they don't tell me anything." He grumbles as they all make their way towards the door, Finn now helping support his friend's weight with an arm pulled over his own shoulders.

"Wow, that's intense. Does it ever itch?" Finn lets his curiosity get the better of him. 

"Thankfully no, and I sincerely hope that it never, _ever_ does; it would be impossible to scratch." Slip grimaces at the thought. Just then though, another thought comes to mind. "Hey wait, does your friend know you got all the 'Troopers on your side now?"

Finn looks over at his friend, a brow raised in question. "Not yet. Why?"

Slip meets his eyes and gives a sly grin.

 

~•~*~•~ 

 

Finn and Rose both screech to a halt, having somehow arrived at the meeting place at the exact same time.

"How do you keep finding people to knock out who are your size?" Are the first words out of the ex-Stormtrooper's mouth, seeing his accomplice decked out in another well fitting First Order uniform.

"Never mind that!" Rose tries to keep them on task. "So anyway I didn't find transport, but I found something else maybe even better, but I don't know if we can get out of here alive if we use it, since there might not be time-"

"Don't worry about that;" Finn cuts her off. "we can get out of here plenty alive and safe. I'm _sure_ of it." He assures with a big grin as Stormtroopers flood the area from a few different directions.

Rose takes in the sight for a few seconds, stunned, before turning back to face Finn with a grimace.  
"It's ironic how you said that right before a ton of Stormtroopers swooped in; now we'll never escape!!" 

"What?" Finn says, then realizes how this looks: like they just got caught. "No! They're-" he deflates "I was going for a dramatic moment but- yeah anyway, they're here to help; they're coming with us." He says, head hung low at his failed delivery. It would've been so cool if it had worked.

"Oh." Rose eyes the wall of 'Troopers suspiciously for a few seconds before just giving up and shrugging, deciding to go along with it (not having much other choice anyway).

"Well anyway, what did you find?" Finn asks after recovering. His only solace being that his old squad didn't see his failure, him having sent them to the ship they'd be taking to make sure Slip got there in time, and to oversee things in general.

Rose just smiles at him somewhat manically, knowing now that her plan could actually work without getting them killed. Probably. "We blow this popsicle stand. And by that I mean 'boom';" she emphasizes by mining an explosion with her hands. "I found the reactor core and I know how to overload it."

Finn just stares at her for several seconds, but before she can ask what's wrong he speaks up. "That, yes that could work." He says, thinking the idea over in his head. Then he turns around and, addressing the throng of 'Troopers, says "Alright everyone, get back in position; we'll meet back up when I give the signal, just as planned." And as quickly as they came, the wall of Stormtroopers depart, leaving no trace that they had ever been there.

Rose lets out a low whistle at that. "Well _you_ sure have a commanding presence."

_Okay, why does everyone keep saying that?!_ Finn thinks, but keeps to himself, wanting to get this whole thing done in as timely a manner as possible, before someone notices they're not in their cell anymore. "Alright, lead the way, we gotta make this quick!"

"You don't have to tell me twice. This way!" She says before running back the way she came, Finn following closely behind.

They somehow make it back to the suspicious door without being spotted (although there _were_ a couple close calls) and she points out the reactor core they have to overload.

"Okay, now how exactly are we going to do that?" Finn asks the electronics expert. 

Rose bites her lip and thinks for a minute before getting an idea and unclipping something from her utility belt. She looks forlornly at her newly acquired taser she was just about to _un_ acquire. 

"We're going to throw this into it." She explains as she quickly begins the necessary mods. 

"And it's not just gonna blow up when it gets hit or anything?" Finn asks, concerned.

"No, it's not impact that will do it, but too much built-up electrical charge and heat that will get it to overload." She says as she tosses a couple no longer needed parts over her shoulder. Then she hands the equivalent of a time-bomb switch to Finn. "Now just make sure you get it to land in the red stuff in the center. And remember, we only have one shot." She finishes as she backs up to give him room.

" _What?_ Why me?" Finn practically squeaks, trying to hand the now extremely dangerous equipment back to the one who actually knows how it works.

"Because we're a team, Finn. I supplied the tech and made the mod, now you get to finish the job: teamwork!" She says a little too energetically, as if compensating for something. But what?

Finn studies her face for a couple seconds. "You can't throw, can you?"

"...It's my one weakness." She begrudgingly admits, crossing her arms.

"Okay fine!" He gives, moving into the best position to make the throw, before looking back at her after a very important question comes to mind. "Wait; What happens if I miss?"

"Uh, let's just say... don't." Is all Rose supplies.

That was very reassuring. Finn makes a face he hopes conveys as much, then focuses on the task at hand. Literally. "Well, here goes nothing. Or everything." He checks the weight of it in his palm, estimates the force required to get it to its destination, primes his muscles, and...

"You didn't throw it."

"I know!" Finn shrieks in frustration. "You're making me nervous, maybe turn around or something." 

"Okay fine." The engineer says, and does as suggested. Or at least pretends to, still peaking over her shoulder.

Finn closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to calm his mind and the light tremors running through his body. Somehow it seems to work and he opens his eyes, feeling focused as hell, and without thinking, just _feeling_ , he makes the throw.

The modified taser hits the platform and bounces around, nearly falling off the edge, but somehow it stills and rolls back to be in the perfect position, and the two let out a collective sigh of relief. 

"Alright, that should give us between 5 and 10 minutes to get out of here."

"Okay cool, so- wait, _Should?!_ You mean you don't know?" Finn asks, now fearing for his life.

"Well it's not like I got a chance to study the blueprints for the First Order's main ship's reactor core. I don't know what it's exact resting temperature is, just the potential minimum and maximum kelvin, and as for the modified taser I could only guess at its unobstructed voltage flow since it wasn't exactly written on the bottom in bold print! This is the closest estimation anyone is going to get, unless you want to give it a go?" Rose says, now holding the suspicious door open. 

"Okay okay, I get it. Guess we just better hurry then." Finn supplicates, hands raised in surrender as he passes through the threshold into the slightly less suspicious hallway.

-

They are making good time in getting to the hangar bay, but for some reason Finn didn't feel like they were in the clear yet. He had a feeling something was about to go down. Something bad. And just when Finn was pulling out his comm unit to send out the signal, he hears a familiar and very unwelcome voice. "Well, well, well." And spins around to see Phasma in all her shiny chrome glory, standing armed, not 10 feet away. "87. Still getting into trouble I see." She remarks, blaster pointed right at him. Then, wasting no time, she shoots him center mass and he falls to the ground with a dull thud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Plays Dear Sister Parody because I am evil*~  
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments. ^-^


	8. Finn's Army

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Finn survive the shot to the gut from the end of last chapter? Read to find out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, made a small change, which I went back and edited chapter 7 to reflect: Zeroes is female now, because why not? Plus I added a little more Rose techno babble near the end of it as well. Anyway, enjoy the follow-up to the cliffhanger of evilness!

"FINN!" Finn barely makes out through the din of the ringing in his ears and the hammering of his heart against his ribcage. Too shocked to even _move_ from his curled up position on the floor after being shot dead center by his ex-captain, he can only wonder: why did this have to happen when they were _so close?_

-

After getting over her momentary loss of mobility at the shock of seeing her friend get shot right in front of her very eyes and then just lie there clutching at his abdomen, Rose makes to move for her fallen friend, but is stopped in her tracks when Phasma aims the blaster at her instead. "Take one more step and you'll get the same as him." The chrome-armored one says, voice hard as steel.

Rose halts, but looks to the side, calculating the odds of her being able to successfully make a running dive for the blaster Finn has strapped to his side and shoot Phasma vs. her getting shot before both feet even leave the floor, when suddenly the room floods with Stormtroopers, Nines and Zeroes at the forefront.

Phasma seems pleased to see them "FNs 2199 & 2000, take the prisoners back to their cell." She orders, knowing that Finn might even die on the way, but deciding that that would be someone else's problem.

Instead of doing as bade they hold their ground, not a single 'Trooper breaking rank. "No." The two who had fought alongside the fallen one spoke simultaneously.

"Excuse me?" Phasma takes a couple slow, deliberate steps forward. "I gave you an order, and I expect it to be obeyed. Now do as I _say_." She grits out menacingly, almost giving them pause.

But they would not be deterred. Nines gives a hand signal and the 'Troopers at his back fan out—blocking the path to the curled up form of Finn—then he takes a step closer to the chrome 'Trooper and shouts "No! We no longer answer to you. In fact, we're taking you down, even if it's the last thing we do with Finn as our leader." He finishes, holding his ground.

"Yeah," Zeroes joins in, stepping forward. "and if we die while defeating you? Well, it'll be worth it." She shrugs before making a hand signal herself; in response all the 'Troopers pull out their weapons and step in line with the two leading the brigade.

"This will be the last mistake you _ever_ make." Phasma warns as she readies her weapon and gets into a fighting stance, unflinching in front of a veritable swarm of opponents.

Then the fight begins.

Rose uses the distraction to finally see how bad off Finn really is, slowly closing the distance—so as not to attract unnecessary attention—and dropping to her knees beside him to make sure he isn't bleeding out. With some effort she manages to pry Finn's arms from his body, and the sight that greets her makes her gasp.

\- 

Phasma now has hold of two blasters and is using them as melee weapons when there isn't enough room to fire off a blast. It's hard to do any damage to her as her armor is blaster proof, but luckily that's not the only kind of weapon they brought, seeing as Nines was quite fond of his stun baton and made sure to grab it on the way there.

-

Finn sees through blurry eyes all the Stormtroopers gathered around and hears them talking with his old captain, but can't make out what they're saying, the flood of adrenaline in his system only allowing him to hear the echoing sounds of his own harsh breathing. 

Then a commotion begins and a fight breaks out, Phasma holding her own against the horde, which makes sense; they didn't make her captain for nothing. Finn feels useless, as he can do nothing aside from just lie there watching it all unfold in front of him with dazed eyes, and hope with all his might that no one from his newly acquired army got killed.

This continues for a little while, the 'Troopers taking a hit every now and then, but ultimately gaining the upper hand, when suddenly Finn feels fingers grabbing at the arms covering his midsection. He resists as best he can, not wanting to expose his wound to the open air, but in his weakened state can only hold out for so long before both his arms are pried away. 

"What the hell?" 

Those words snap him out of of his fugue-like state, the sounds and sensations of the world rushing back to him all at once. Then he notices where Rose has her attention directed and suddenly his pulse spikes. "What? How bad is it?" He then realizes something amiss and the blood drains from his face. "I can't even feel it, that means it's really bad doesn't it? Oh my god, if I die tell Poe-" Rose cuts off his ramblings with a "Finn, there's nothing here." 

Confused, Finn cranes his neck to see that his armor is in perfect condition, not a scorch mark (much less punctured plate) to be seen. "What the hell?" He says, bewildered.

"I know; that's what I said." Rose agrees. "But I swear she aimed right at you. She couldn't have missed from that distance." She puts a finger to her chin in thought. "Maybe her blaster was defective?"

"No way, that thing is her baby." Finn quickly dispels that possibility. "She never lets it out of her sight; always keeps it in top condition." 

"Okay, so maybe she _did_ just miss." Rose shrugs, not having any other ideas.

"Also no way;" Finn shakes his head as he sits up with the engineer's help. "she's one of the best marksmen the First Order has. Or _had_." He amends as he notices the fight was over and Phasma was nowhere to be seen. A few 'Troopers also seemed to be missing for some reason. He looks over the remaining majority and can easily tell from the sight that Phasma did not go down easy—there are injuries to attest to that—, but somehow, as if by miracle, it seems she didn't inflict a single lethal blow. It honestly makes no sense. He doesn't have much time to ponder that particular train of thought though, as suddenly his field of vision is filled with Nines' and Zeroes' legs.

"How you feelin' bud?"  
"You still kickin'?" Are both said at once and honestly by this point Finn can't tell who said what, so he decides to just cover all bases at once.

"Surprisingly, I'm okay." He makes to stand and wobbles a bit, causing his old teammates to each raise a single eyebrow in his direction after steadying him.

"You sure about that? Because _we're_ pretty sure we saw you get shot."  
"Yeah, and fall down dead." Nines and Zeroes said, respectively, before stepping back now that Finn didn't look like he was about to fall over.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too, but I guess not. I can't explain it, but anyway like I said, I'm fine; just a little wobbly. Must be the adrenaline high having faded." Finn explains. "But it's a good thing you guys showed up when you did, or I might've turned into Swiss cheese." Just then a thought crosses his mind. "Wait, how did you even know I was in trouble? I didn't call you." 

"You didn't?" Nines asks, trying to remember receiving a call, but coming up blank. "Oh yeah, I guess not. Maybe we just have good timing? Or-"

"Okay, that is fantastic and all," Rose cuts in. "but we really gotta get going, and I mean _now_. I set this whole place to blow and I don't know how long we have left before we explode along with it."

"Badass." Finn ignores Zeroes saying as he voices a concern of his own. "Wait, what about the other 'Troopers? I _swear_ some are missing."

"Don't worry, they'll be back soon; just had to take out the trash." Nines explains with a worryingly smug smile shared by the 'Trooper standing to his side.

"Guys, veritable slash literal time bomb, remember? Can we go now?" Rose asks, somewhat exasperated (and rightly so) by this point. 

"Oh right, good idea." Finn remarks as he spins on his heel, nearly tumbling over at the sudden movement; luckily though, Rose reaches out with one extended arm without even looking his way to make sure he didn't face plant, "Thanks.", and they start off towards the hangar bay, revealing to Zeroes and Nines a scorch Mark which had somehow remained hidden from view up until that point.

Finn must have been covering it when he fell and curled onto his side, then somehow managed to scoot over just enough to keep it covered when he was attempting to avoid Rose looking at his non-existent wound, and then shielded it from view with his foot while standing. All on accident too, it seemed. They share a look before shrugging and jogging to catch up with the others, deciding it best to keep that information to themselves for the time being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was getting long, so I decided to cut it in two to get it out sooner since I'm trying to update once a week. (And so I could work on a couple of my other stories)
> 
> Also yay, Finn is still alive!
> 
> And remember, folks, comments and kudos give me life~


	9. Time-Bomb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Finn, Rose, and the 'Troopers make it out alive? Well, let's find out!

They are all making good time in getting to the bay, considering Rose has to keep a hand on Finn's shoulder to make sure he doesn't tip to the side.

Several 'Troopers are leading the party with weapons at the ready just in case they run into any trouble, and Finn takes this opportunity to check on his teammates. "So how are you guys? She land any hits on you?" He asks once they come up beside him.

"She got me in the leg." Zeroes answers first. "My favorite leg too! Who knew these blasters were so fucking _hard_?" She says, eyeing her own weapon suspiciously. Now that Finn's looking for it he can see the slightest limp, then turns his attention to Nines when the redhead speaks up.

"Eh, nothing too bad." The stun baton user rubs at his shoulder, it being sore from Phasma having nearly wrenched the weapon from his grasp. Nearly. "Might've pulled something, that's all."

Huh, seems like Finn had actually been the lucky one. But for some reason his back seemed to be aching slightly. Hmm, must be from his hard landing. Just then they enter the hangar bay, somehow not having been spotted once before reaching it. 

"This way!" Nines announces, leading them over to their transport.

"Woah, that's big." Finn says in awe at the sheer size of the space vehicle once it's in view, Rose's mouth hanging open beside him.

"What were you expecting? The Easter Bunny?" Zeroes asks as she leads them up the gangplank.   
"It would need to be big to hold all _this_." She gestures inside once they reach the apex of the ramp. 

Finn's eyes widen at the sheer amount of 'Troopers inside the thing; they practically look like sardines.   
"Woah, this is even more people than I remember." He voices his thoughts as he enters the room and scans the crowd.

"That's because we gathered up any who weren't in the mess hall at the time you gave your rousing speech about joining you and leaving the First Order." Nines explains.

" _Holy shit; so_ that's _what this is about?_ " Finn hears someone whisper.

"And for security purposes we didn't tell them exactly what was going on; just where to meet." The redhead smiles innocently.

Finn raises an eyebrow at him, questioning the 'Trooper's tactics, but ultimately shrugs it off, deciding that was probably the right call. "Eh, fair enough. But maybe-"

"Okay, quick question." Rose interjects, wanting to keep things moving so they don't all die. "Does this ship have anything the First Order can use to track us with?"

"Yeah, Slip's working on disabling that, but he's not exactly fast... Maybe we should just take our chances?" Zeroes suggests, remembering the whole bomb situation. 

"No, take me there and I'll do it." Rose says, stepping forward with purpose.

"Ooh, an electronics expert? Right this way!" Zeroes takes off in the direction of the cockpit, the 'Troopers parting to make an isle for her and Rose to leave through. The armored one then removes her comm unit to give her teammate a heads-up. "Zeroes and a guest coming your way, be there in 10!" 

Rose was about to ask whether she meant minutes or seconds—neither of which seemed right—when she realized it must be in code. Yup, 30 seconds made much more sense.

Soon they are skidding to a halt in the control room, panting lightly from exertion. 

"Over here!" Slip shouts from the side and they look over to see him lying on the floor, reaching into a square hole where a panel had been pried loose.

"Okay, I'll start booting up the engines while you guys work on removing the tracker." Zeroes says as she runs over to the flight controls and starts flipping switches. "Remember, we're on a clock here."

"Don't I know it?" Rose crouches down next to Slip as soon as she reaches him. "Just point it out to me and I'll take it from there." She says with intention, leaving no room for argument.

Slip sits up and scoots out of the way, grunting slightly from the movement agitating his injury, and hands Rose his pair of wire cutters. "It's that strange box thing there." He says, pointing to a unit at the center of a bunch of machinery. "It's wired into the core system functions, so it needs to be carefully removed; can't just blast it. Unfortunately."

Rose nods and sticks nearly her entire upper body into the hole, then gets to work. 

"So what kind of clock we talkin' about? Slip asks as he gets into a French Girl position. 

"Time bomb." Rose explains as she starts clipping wires one after another.

"Badass." Slip smirks, but drops it almost immediately. "But also just plain bad; this thing is complicated and might take a good while to-"

"Done!" Rose shouts as she raises the contraption with myriad wires sticking out of it high in the air, like a trophy.

"Holy quadrotriticale that was fast." Slip says, eyes wide in shock.

Just then Finn pops into the room, Nines at his back. "Alright, everyone's on board. We ready to take off?"

"Yup, perfect timing!" Zeroes says as the engines suddenly roar to life.

"Great, then lets get out of here!" Slip shouts as he flops the rest of the way down onto the floor, spreading his limbs like a starfish.

"Yeah, what he said. Let's go!" Nines joins in.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Zeroes says as she steers the ship out of the confines of the Star Destroyer's hangar bay. As soon as they clear the airlock force field she turns to Finn. "Coordinates?" 

"Don't look at me." He holds up his hands, then gestures toward Rose with his head. 

Rose takes that as her cue to run over and enter the information before—wasting no time—slamming the hyperdrive button.

Space warps all around them, the many pinpricks of light from stars turning into blurred lines, signifying a successful jump. Unbeknownst to them not a second after they leave is when the gigantic explosion goes off, illuminating the darkness of space and taking out all the First Order ships within the vicinity, including the one Supreme Leader Snoke was on, effectively ending the war right there.

"So you think it exploded like the second we left? Like in those cool action holos?" Slip asks from his most likely uncomfortable position on the hard floor.

"No way to tell, but I'm hoping so; it would've looked awesome." Finn slumps against the nearest vertical surface and slides all the way down, the whole ordeal leaving him feeling particularly drained for some reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you had your fill of Finn, because we get to see what Poe is up to in the next chapter!


	10. Devastation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will happen when Rey and Poe travel to Finn's last known location aboard an enemy ship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long since my last update; my life has been quite busy lately with a lot of extra work and whatnot. But I digress, please enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think!

"So how exactly did he, and _only_ him-"

"Well, and one other person."

"Okay, how did only two people get captured while everyone else got away safely?" Rey rephrased, wondering how this could have possibly happened.

Poe looked down at his lap, gathering his thoughts before taking a deep, calming breath and meeting Rey's eyes once again. "We had just found out that the First Order could track us through hyperspace, and I was called to the bridge to be appraised of our plan after I finished checking on my pilots to make sure they were okay after our attack on the dreadnaught. 

"I was just about to enter the bridge to talk to our new in-charge since Leia had been injured, when I suddenly got a call from him saying that he and someone else had taken out the tracker, so I relayed the info to Vice-admiral Holdo. Then he said we had to leave that instant just in case the First Order had a backup." He took a moment to steel himself for the next part. "Holdo gave the crew the good-to-go just after he said what he thought to be his last goodbye to me." Poe finished, looking down at his lap once again. 

Rey nodded to herself, able to easily see the pilot's explanation play out in her mind's eye, because that was just how their friend was: willing to sacrifice himself to save others without a second thought.

Then Poe voiced what had been eating at his conscience for some time now. "I should have been with him. He'd just come out of bacta, he shouldn't have even been upright—much less running around a Star Destroyer—and if I'd just stayed by his side maybe he wouldn't be prisoner aboard an enemy ship."

"You couldn't have stopped him if you'd tried;" Rey decided to nip his guilt in the bud. "he puts the needs of the many above the needs of the few." 

"Or the one." Poe nodded, and Rey couldn't tell whether he was talking about their friend, or himself. "Which is probably why I fell for him in the first place." He then let out a sigh and looked over to the monitor displaying the coordinates where the ex-stormtrooper was last seen. "I just hope Finn is okay."

"Wait, what did you say his name was?" Said a Luke who had been mostly silent up until that point, but was now looking right at him with wide, almost crazed eyes, and standing from his previously seated position.

"Uh, Finn. Wh-" The pilot didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, as Luke grabbed ahold of his shoulders and began a tirade of questions.

"You're certain? How old is he? When did he become a Stormtrooper? Was it from birth, or did he join later on, or what?" He asked, remembering that Poe had mentioned at some point earlier that his and Rey's friend was a Stormtrooper who had recently defected. 

"Umm, I don't know. We never exactly got the chance to talk about it... Why?" Poe asked, eyes wide in confusion at the old Jedi's sudden interest.

Instead of answering, Luke released him from the hold and sat back down with an expression that looked as if he were trying to solve an exceptionally challenging puzzle.

Rey was just about to join in on wondering aloud why her master was suddenly so curious about their friend, when the ship's computer started beeping, signaling they were about to arrive at their destination. "Okay everyone, get ready."

They pull out of warp only to see nothing but debris in their wake. Stunned, Poe barely gets out "No, this can't be; they were right here." as he frantically checks the screens and sensors to make sure he was seeing right.

Rey doesn't voice that they still might be, the thought of any of that debris being her friend way too morbid a sentiment to share. 

Luke doesn't visibly react to the situation, still lost in his thoughts.

"No." Poe whispers, the blood draining from his face as what he's seeing on the screen is confirmed, before seeming to find his voice once again. "No no no no- I just got him back, I can't lose him again!" He slams a fist against a hard panel on the control console once, twice, three times before remaining hunched over it, unmoving aside from the slight shaking of his entire body. 

Rey steps up beside him and puts a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. It's pretty clear that Finn did this; sacrificing himself to save everyone again, but this time to end a war. For good most likely. But then it really hits that Finn—who also happens to be _her_ friend—is gone. Just... **gone**. For good; she'll never get to see him again, go on crazy adventures with him, laugh and joke with him, share stories of their pasts-

Tears threaten to fall from her eyes, and it's then she decides they could both use a hug. Sliding the hand off his shoulder she wraps her arms around Poe and—after tensing up for a second—he suddenly turns around to squeeze back with all the might his shaking limbs can muster. 

The Jedi-in-training closes her eyes and begins a minute of silence for their lost friend. Halfway through she can feel tears start to soak through her tunic from where the pilot's face is pressed against her shoulder and she only holds Poe tighter, as she knew there was nothing that could be said to lessen his pain. Or hers.

The minute is nearly up when suddenly the computer starts beeping at them again, but this time to signal that they're being hailed. Rey looks over to see who could possibly be calling at such a time, but when she sees the name her eyes widen and she taps Poe on the shoulder. "You might want to answer that." She says, indicating to the console once the Pilot pulls away. 

After looking at the display himself and seeing Leia's name on it Poe gives his eyes a few good wipes and looks over at Rey, who gives him a nod, confirming he's presentable. He then takes a deep, but shaky breath and releases it slowly before pressing the accept call button. "General, it's good to see you're okay." He says once her face fills up the screen.

"Same to you. Which is a little surprising, honestly." 

"Oh? How so?" Poe asks, glad his voice sounds stable, even if he doesn't quite feel that way himself. 

"Well, you are known to be a bit of a hot-shot." Leia smirks good-naturedly.

"Not enough of one to unnecessarily risk lives." Poe counters with the barest hint of a smile, and even _that_ he has to fight for.

"And that's why I trusted you with a promotion." The General nods sagely. "And now I need you back at base for something very important." She says, obviously not wanting to give out details over the comms.

"Alright, on my way, General." Poe says before ending the call. Then, having nothing else to do at that point he complies—heart heavy and broken—and enters the coordinates that would get them back to base. Just then BB-8 rolls his way over, lightly bumping into Poe's shin and making little sad questioning beeps.

"I know buddy, but we did the best we could." Poe responds, leaning down and patting the little droid consolingly on the head. "Sorry for dragging you two along for nothing." He says, addressing the two Jedi on board.

"Don't worry about it; if a friend of mine needs help, I'm there for them." Rey says seriously, then adds "Besides, it looks like _he_ could use some time away from that island anyway.", indicating her new master, and looks over to where Chewbacca seemed to be offering comfort to Luke in the form of a hug (or perhaps seeking it), not that Luke seemed to notice, still lost in thought somehow.

"Yeah, sure seems that way." Poe gives a small, amused smile, before it quickly falls from his face as he's brought back to the matter at hand. "Well anyway, we should probably get going now." He takes another look at the destruction left in his friend's wake, but makes no move for the controls, seeming unable to bring himself to press the button that would take them home. Especially since to him it would no longer feel like home.

Rey, seeing Poe's struggle, decides to step in and—hand hovering over the button—looks to Poe for acquiescence.

He sees her out of his peripheral and tears his eyes away from the wasteland that lay beyond the ship to look down at the floor, and gives a small, painful nod. 

That's all the confirmation Rey needs, and moments later the hyperdrive kicks into place, and they are off.

Little did they know they had a stow-away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anyone guess who it is?
> 
> And remember, comments and kudos give me life~


End file.
